Say NO to Symantec!

Many years back I began recommending Symantec Anti-Virus solutions to my clients. At the time it had the simplest interface and live update made keeping on top of virus definitions a snap. I took my own advice and for many years I was happy with the solution provided by Norton Internet Security.

However, today for me my oppinion of the company has changed. I would now not recommend using symantec and I'm here today to cover why:

I used to recommend Symantec for the following reasons (and, mostly they are still reasons to recommend their software today):

1. Simple to use
2. Flexible (provides for both a novice and for an expert solution tailored for each)
3. Informative (gives plenty of details and keeps you aware of what you want to know and suppresses what you do not).
4. Reliable

As I say, many of the above are still true today. The one thing that has really changed though is the fourth point. I no longer trust their software and have found it more unreliable of late.

I purchased Norton Internet Security 2007 towards the end of that year, I installed it on my Windows Vista Ultimate machine and found all the familiar features to be there. Towards the end of my licenced anti-virus updates period I received a "free" upgrade to the 2009 package (seemed very nice) which installed without much fuss.

After this, I ran into a number of situations where NIS claimed bo no longer be working. I ran the Live Update on two of those occasions and this appeared to resolve the issue (this was with the Anti-Virus portion of the suite). This happened a total of 3 times, but each time live update resolved the issue excepting on the third occasion where I needed to download a patch from Symantec to resolve the issue. Whilst this was all mildly irritating, it wasn't too onerous of itself.

About 1 week before my licence expired, I had need to use system restore to reverse my configuration (after a failed/unwanted software installation). System restore completed as expected (very good) and the system started back up. At this time NIS said it had been corrupted and refused to start the AV component (though the firewall continued to work). After some faffing around with Live Update I managed to restore the A/V system to a working order.

Time passes... The licence expired... now the expected behaviour from any AV product when the licence expires is that it will continue to protect you as it would have protected you on the date the update licence expired. This simply prove out to be the case with NIS! The AV component broke about a week after the licence expired and of course, the fix involved a live update (which would necessitate a licence renewal). It happened that at this time I wasn't prepared to renew my licence (given the problems i'd had) but was annoyed to find that it had more or less crippled the A/V engine (meaning I didn't have even the protection I would have been afforded before the licence expired). The firewall portion still functioned so I "forgave" this shortcomming (and, no I didn't contract a virus).

Time passes again and NIS informs me that I can either renew my licence (re-activate the product) or it will no longer protect me full stop. This is completely unacceptable behaviour in a purchased product. I don't mind warnings that i'm not protected against the latest threats, as this is a fact.. I don't mind them even nagging me at my chosen interval about renewing my licence... but I find it completely unacceptable to take away purchased functionality at the end of the update licence (which was only for updates.. not for use of the product).

So, I have not uninstalled Symantec and looked around for a solution that will not take back paid for features.

Sadly, I have to admit though that Symantec still offer one of the best Anti-Virus products so I can't completely eliminate it as a possible recommended business solution (though, I will push the shortcommings). However, products like Nod32 also offer an excellent solution and whilst lacking some of the simplicity of the NIS suite it provides excellent anti-virus detection and prevention and does not remove functionality if the licence expires (however, as its name implies, it is only really a 32 bit solution, then NIS still has many 32bit components).

I (for my personal useage) have chosen to replace the NIS firewall (previously much liked) with the Comodo Internet Security solution. This free offering from Comodo is a true 64 bit solution (also available in 32bit) and appears to provide an excellent firewall and basic anti-virus services. They also offer a professional solution which I plan to upgrade to myself should the solution prove stable on my system.